The Beauty of Darkness - Mary E. Pearson Page 0,64
seem to give a devil’s hell about duty when you left me at the altar!”
I stared at him, a hive of bees swarming in my chest, and I desperately tried to swallow my growing irritation. “I’m regrouping and moving forward with new information—just as some fool told me to do.”
He walked across the wooden veranda and then back again, his boots punctuating his growing anger. He stopped in front of me.
“I didn’t run across a whole continent and risk good officers’ lives just to let you traipse back to a kingdom where you’ll be killed.”
“You’re assuming the worst,” I said between gritted teeth.
“You’re damn right I am! You think one little lesson in swordplay and you’re ready to take on a kingdom of traitorous cutthroats?”
Swordplay? I trembled with fury at his dismissal of my abilities. “I will remind you, King Jaxon, that all of your fingers are intact now thanks to me. You think you’d be giving anyone sword lessons without them? I endured weeks of the Komizar pawing me, beating me, and sticking his tongue down my throat to save your miserable life. And I will also remind you I felled four men in our escape. You are not letting me go anywhere. Where I go and what I do is still my choice to make!”
He didn’t back down, and his eyes became molten steel burning me with their heat. “No.”
I looked at him uncertainly. “What do you mean, no?”
“You can’t go.”
An incredulous puff of air escaped from my lips. “You can’t stop me.”
“You think not?” He stepped closer, his chest as imposing as a wall. His eyes glowed like a beast’s. “Have you forgotten? I am the king of Dalbreck,” he growled. “And I decide who comes and goes here.”
“You’re a damn fool is what you are, and I’m leaving!”
He turned toward the end of the veranda. “Guards!”
The sentries standing at the railing immediately stepped forward. “Escort Princess Arabella back to her quarters,” he ordered. “And post four guards to see that she stays put!”
I stood there, stunned with disbelief, trying to find my voice. “Are you saying I’ve gone from being the prisoner of one kingdom to being the prisoner of another?”
“You can twist it into whatever warped thing you choose, which I’m sure you will, but you’re going to your tent and staying there until you come to your senses!”
I looked back at the guards. They stared at me anxiously, not sure how to proceed until Rafe told them, “If she doesn’t follow willingly, you have my permission to drag her.”
I glared at him and spun, stomping down the steps with the guards hot on my heels.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
KADEN
We heard every word.
When the shouting began, Sven stood halfway up as if to leave. “Maybe we should give them some privacy—” Then he seemed to realize that the only exit led right into their argument. He sat back down. The only other option would have been to sneak out single file through the cook’s entrance, which would be even more awkward, an admission that we were hearing their raging argument.
So we sat there listening, wondering how it could get worse.
Words like devil’s hell, damn fool, and I decide raised eyebrows, but prisoner was a word that sucked in breaths. Tavish groaned, and Jeb mumbled a curse. Sven leaned forward, his face in his hands like he wished he could counsel his charge in the rules of a proper argument. I heard him mumble drag her? beneath his breath.
Griz was surprisingly silent, and I realized he was enjoying listening to the king dig his grave. Griz believed in Lia in a strange, fierce way that I was only just grasping. It didn’t matter that she planned to leave him behind. The king was showing his true royal colors, and Griz was savoring every word.
I tried to savor the warm kernel of satisfaction growing in my gut too, but I also knew the rage I heard in Lia’s voice came from a place of deep hurt. My satisfaction turned cold. After my promise of honesty, I had dispensed only portions of the truth to Rafe about my kiss with Lia, knowing it would enrage him, but she was the one who had shouldered the brunt of the pain it had caused. I didn’t want to hurt her any more.
It was quiet outside on the veranda, and Sven finally broke our silence. “What else could he do? It’s not safe for her to go back to Morrighan.”